home-cooking

Learn the Proper Pasta Serving Sizes to Save Money and Water

If you're like me, you probably just dump the whole box of pasta into boiling water and deal with leftovers later. Though there are plenty of nifty tools you can buy that make measuring out your pasta serving sizes as easy as pie, sometimes you just don't need another tool in the cramped kitchen drawer. What if I told you that all you needed to roughly measure the right pasta serving size are your measuring cups?

That's right. While those pasta measuring tools are nice, all you need to do is remember (or bookmark) the correct portion sizes of pasta. Before we go over the serving sizes, though, why does it matter how much pasta per person you make? Well, for those looking to lose weight or eat more mindfully, pasta is a source of delicious carbohydrates that need portion control. Also, when you cook less pasta, you use less water which is something we all need to be mindful of in the kitchen.

The purpose of your pasta is also important to remember when determining how much pasta per person to make. For a small portion, like a lunch or soup, choose about 1/2 cup of dry pasta per serving. For a large portion, like a dinner, choose about 1 cup of dry pasta. Of course the pasta shapes will determine the serving size, as well. As far as size suggestions, a single serving of pasta is typically 2 ounces, and in shapes that can fit in measuring cups, it's about 1 heaping cup of dry pasta before cooking.

The only foolproof way of measuring pasta is to use a food scale or kitchen scale, but if you don't own one (me either), stick to this easy list for the perfect portion for a family of four. If you're cooking for two or three, you can easily adjust this list.

Editor's Note: All uncooked pasta should equal 8 ounces. For those noodles that can fit into measuring cups, we've provided the cup measurement. These numbers are for dry and packaged pasta, which contains about 6 servings.